PayPal Targets European Mobile Payments Market

The payments company is releasing a Chip-and-PIN version of its mobile credit card reader in the U.K.

PayPal announced that it is releasing a version of its PayPal Here mobile card reader aimed at the European market that can process Chip-and-PIN cards.

According to the company's blog, it is launching the Chip & PIN version of PayPal Here in the U.K. first. It will be available to select U.K. businesses over the coming months before it fully launches in the summer. It will later be available in other markets that use Chip and PIN after the initial launch.

Released last year, PayPal Here is a triangle-shaped card reader and mobile app, which allows merchants to accept payments by swiping cards with a fully encrypted thumb-sized card reader, or use a phone camera to scan and process cards and checks.

Eden Zoller, principal analyst at U.K.-based research firm Ovum says the U.K. launch makes logical sense, and that the device will need to be competitively priced to make it appealing for small businesses.

"PayPal says this will be the case – it is not looking to make money from the device itself," Zoller says. "Mobile credit card reader solutions appear to address a genuine need in the market -- an easy and convenient way for small businesses to accept card payments without having to invest in costly credit/debit card processing equipment. The market for these solutions is becoming increasingly competitive and PayPal Here is not the first of its kind in Europe, where the likes of iZettle, Payleven and mPowa have already launched. But PayPal has an advantage in being an established, trusted payment provider with a high profile global brand.”

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio